TUESDAY,FEB.26,2002
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 5A
LEASING
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several other maintenance problems, such as a broken screen door and a leak in her roof.
"They supposedly came and fixed the roof, but it still leaks, and we're on the top floor," she said. "It was frying our smoke alarm."
She said maintenance gave her a new smoke alarm, but the water from the leak shorted out the new alarm. Now she has a bucket on the floor to catch the drips from the rain.
According to George Waters Management, there was record of a smoke detector being replaced in Bauer's apartment, but it could not find any requests to repair the roof.
Bauer said she considered visiting Legal Services for Students or even filing a 14-to-30-day notice.
Cornell Mayfield, a tenant and landlord counselor at Housing and Credit Counseling Incorporated, 2518 Ridge Ct., said there were legal options a rent could take if the landlord wouldn't comply with building safety codes.
Mayfield said if the landlord hadn't fixed something within 24 hours after the tenant reported it,
the tenant could send a registered letter as a notice to the landlord, called a 14-to-30 day notice.
A 14-to-30 day notice is a letter that the tenant sends by registered mail to the landlord. The letter must state that the landlord has 14 days to fix the problem. If the landlord does not comply, the tenant can legally terminate the lease in 30 days. The 14-to-30 day notice, a part of the Kansas Landlord and Tenant Act, requires that the maintenance problem be something materially affecting the health or safety of the tenant.
Students who have similar problems can contact Legal Services for Students to discuss options. Michele Kessler, assistant director of Legal Services for Students, said that a 14-to-30 day notice was a last resort for tenants, and the landlord would most likely fix the problem before a notice gets filed.
"The landlord must make an effort to fix it," Kessler said. "They don't have to actually fix it within 14 days."
Barry Walthall, city inspector for Lawrence's Neighborhood Resource department, said the code enforcement division could take care of maintenance inquiries. Inspectors are familiar with city building code and can verify if the problem violates that
code. If the inspectors find a problem, they issue a violation notice and give the landlord a specified amount of time to fix the problem.
"If the landlord will not comply, we do take them to court," Walthall said. "But we have pretty good compliance in the cases that we get."
He said they get two or three complaints a week from tenants. The biggest problem in Lawrence is a tack of smoke detectors. Sometimes the landlord fails to provide them or maintain smoke detectors properly, and some tenants take the batteries out, he said.
Walthall said students should also check their apartments to make sure the bathroom and kitchen were equipped with ground fault circuit interrupters that have a button to reset the circuits and that the tenant can get out of the apartment in case of an emergency.
"They can call us anytime if they feel like there's an immediate hazard," he said, "if they don't get a response in a reasonable time period from their landlord, they can contact us."
Contact Shuman at mshuman@ kansan.com. This story was edited by Brooke Hesler.
BLOOD DRIVE
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"The need for blood is constant and continuing. Blood only has a shelf life of 42 days." Green said.
Green said this might be a harder time for people to donate because of colds and the flu, but it would be important to get the donors in. There was recently an emergency appeal for types B positive and O negative.
Last semester, the blood drive beat its goal of 1,175 pins by gathering 1,374 pints. The Red Cross has a goal of 1,225 pints for this drive. Last semester, 1,820 people registered to give blood and 1,374 were able to donate.
Queers and Allies, which has said that the drive discriminated against homosexuals, will not protest as they did in the fall. Christine Robinson, Q&A member and Lawrence graduate student, said the organization thought Student Senate's decision not to fund advertising for the drive in the Kansan was enough.
Contact Boyer at cboyer@ kansan.com. This story was edited by Anne Mergenmeier.
Contact Boyer at cboyer@
PURIM
the story," he said. "I came as the Persian king, Achashverosh."
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Eve Katz, Birmingham, Ala. senior, came dressed as Queen Esther. She said dressing up was her favorite part of the holiday.
"I also love the cookie-making," she said. The hamentaschens, or Haman's hat, cookies are shortbread triangles stuffed with fruit filling.
Katz is the public relations intern for Hillel, KU's Jewish campus organization. She said Hillel was passing out the hamentaschens so Jewish students could celebrate Purim and so non-Jewish students could learn about the holiday.
Even though Hillel didn't have any Purim celebrations last night, Katz said Jewish temples usually did a lot for the holiday.
"I there is always a reading of the Esther story," she said. "It's done like an old-fashioned melodrama and it's very interactive. The audience yells back and whenever Haman's name is mentioned they make a lot of noise and boo him."
She said the temple in her home town had a carnival every year as well.
"It's a great holiday for kids." she said.
Rachel Greenberg, San Antonio, Texas senior, agreed. She said she loved the holiday when she was a child and still had fond memories of it.
Students who missed Hillel's table in the Union will have a chance to try hamentaschens tonight. Katz said.
She said Hillel had arranged for a gourmet cook to teach students how to make the cookies. Baking starts at 6 tonight in the KU Hillel house, 940 Mississippi. The event is free and open to the public.
Contact Koerth at mkooreth@kansan.com. This story was edited by Angela Cox
Sebelius commences campaign for governor
The Associated Press
TOPEKA—Kathleen Sebelius promised yesterday to fight high health care costs if elected governor, but wouldn't say as she kicked off her campaign whether there should be higher taxes to solve the state's budget problems.
Sebelius, the insurance commissioner and Democratic gubernatorial candidate, portrayed herself as a tough consumer advocate and pronounced herself "ready to fight for everyday Kansans."
She said as insurance commissioner, she had already used a counseling program in her office to save the elderly money on prescription drugs and had fought insurance companies when they had unfairly denied medical coverage.
"You can be absolutely certain I have the will and the independence to fight for Kansas families," she said.
Sebelius kicked off her campaign with a rally in the cafeteria of Topeka High School. Her youngest son, John, is a senior atthe school.About 250 people attended.
She also scheduled stops yesterday in Overland Park, Wichita and Pittsburg and today in Hays, Garden City, Colby and Norton.
With legislators facing a projected
$426-million gap between expected revenues and spending commitments, gubernatorial candidates already have faced the question of how they would respond.
Sebelius said she would look for inefficiencies in government first, and the debate should start with cutting spending.
Sebelius' political intentions have hardly been a secret. In August, she named a treasurer and formed a fundraising committee for a gubernatorial run, and she finished last year with more than $550,000 in her campaign account, more than any other declared candidate.
She gave the same answer when asked about a proposal from Gov. Bill Graves, a Republican, to increase the state's cigarette tax by 65 cents a pack.
Asked whether she would support tax increases, Sebelius said, "I'm not going to second-guess the governor and the Legislature during the session."
Sebelius is the Democratic Party's only statewide officeholder, making her the natural choice to be its nominee for governor.
Three Republican candidates have announced their intent to run for governor — Attorney General Carla Stovall, State Treasurer Tim Shallenburger and Wichita Mayor Bob Knight.
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Starring Guest Artist Walter Coppage as Othello Walter Coppage's appearance is particularly memorable in the Theatre of LeWien Alexander Spiritual.
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Directed by Paul Meier
Scenic and Lighting Design by Dennis Christilles
Costume Design by Elinor Parker
Choreography and Fight Direction by Marianne Kubik
The Friday, March 6. performance will be sinced for the daunt and hard-of-hearing
The University Theatre is partially funded SUDENT by the KU Student Senate Activate Fee SENATE
The University Theatre production of *Othello* is part of the Lawrence Celebrates Langston Hughes Festival
Reserved seat tickets are on sale through the KU ticket offices. University Theatre, 864-7839; Lied Center, 864-123A; SUA Office, 864-7499; and on-line at kuwaitexre.com. Please call 05-204-7499 for information about VISA and MasterCard are accepted for phone and on-line orders
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